“…However, the yield, irrigation performance and sustainability of smallholder irrigation schemes are extremely variable (Hussain, 2007;Borgia et al, 2013;Gonçalves et al, 2015;Özmen and Kaman, 2015;Mutambara et al, 2016), with many schemes performing below expectations (García-Bolaños et al, 2011;Valdes et al, 2004;Terra, 2010), despite modernization and rehabilitation projects having tried to counteract their deterioration and poor performance (Valdes et al, 2004;Lecina et al, 2010;Mateos et al, 2010;Rodríguez Díaz et al, 2012;Mutambara et al, 2016;Castelli et al, 2018;Tarjuelo et al, 2015). Many modernization and rehabilitation projects include the transference of irrigation management to water users' associations or, if the latter already exist, the strengthening of collective action and group empowerment (Salgado et al, 2021).…”